052 – Old Puzzle videogames — 3/4 Here, a succinct review of different types of puzzle videogames published until the year 2000. Not in chronological order. Single character control ● Eggerland (Series) – 1985–2000 Several puzzle games developed first for MSX computer systems and later for Windows : - Eggerland Mystery - Eggerland 2 - Eggerland: Revival of the Labyrinth - Eggerland: Departure to Creation - Adventures of Lolo - Adventures of Lolo 2 - Adventures of Lolo 3 - Adventures of Lolo (Game Boy) - Eggerland for Windows 95. The hero of most games is Lolo, a blue, spherical character with eyes, arms and legs. The story mainly deals with King Egger, the villain, capturing princess Lala, who is similar to Lolo, only colored pink or red, and wearing a bow. Lolo must rescue Lala by travelling through Egger's domain and solving the puzzle rooms laid out before him. His only weapon is a Magic Shot, but he can gain some powers in the way. The player must guide Lolo through a room of 11×11 tiles and have Lolo collect all of the Heart Framers ther. Doing so opens up a Jewel Box, which contains an item. Successfully acquiring the contents of the Jewel Box will clear the room of all monsters and open the way (full of obstacles) to the next room. ● Adventures of Lolo – 1989 A puzzle compilation video game (related to Eggerland) released for the Nintendo Entertainment System, Wii's and Wii U's Virtual Console and Nintendo Switch Online's Entertainment System. The player assumes the role of Lolo and attempts to rescue Old Puzzle videogames — 3/4 ● Page 1 of 14 Princess Lala, who has been kidnapped by the evil King Egger. Lolo travels to Egger's castle, with 50 rooms arranged in 10 floors of five. Within each room, Lolo must collect several hearts in order to open a treasure chest and collect the gem inside, which will open the exit to the next room or floor. The player must navigate the obstacles in each room and avoid or neutralize several different types of enemies, which vary by movement and attack pattern. All enemies disappear once Lolo picks up the gem. He can gain other powers (and lives) on specific screens. The player can restart a screen at any time, at the cost of one life. ● Banana – 1986 A fixed screen puzzle video game. There are 105 stages in Banana. The player controls a mole which digs through dirt collecting various fruits and vegetables. In most stages, the produce must be collected in a specific order, or the player may be forced to restart the stage. Bananas are special fruits which give the player one of four items — a bomb, a ladder segment, a rope, a rock — objects he can use if he takes a misstep in a stage and gets stuck. ● Boxxle – 1989 A multiplatform puzzle video game. The gameplay is the same as in other games in the Sokoban series, with the plot being that the player must maneuver boxes in a warehouse in order to make enough money to woo his desired girlfriend. It had a sequel called Boxxle 2. ● Bombuzal – 1988 A puzzle video game released the Amiga, Atari ST, Commodore 64, MS-DOS the Super NES. To complete each of its 130 levels, the avatar has to destroy all bombs on the level and navigate between two enemies. He must stand on top of the bomb to light it and then take one step away before the bomb explodes. In most cases, the bombs have to be set off using a chain reaction to prevent the avatar from being killed in the explosion. Each Bomb/Mine has a reaction zone : a small Old Puzzle videogames — 3/4 ● Page 2 of 14 bomb will only destroy the tile it's on, while a large bomb will destroy 13 tiles. ● Boulder Dash – 1984 A 2D puzzle video game released for Atari 8-bit computers. The player controls Rockford, who must dig through caves collecting gems and diamonds and reach the exit within a time limit, while avoiding various types of dangerous creatures as well as falling rocks and the constant danger of being crushed or trapped by an avalanche, or killed by an underground explosion. ● Buster Bros. Series (Pang or Pomping World) – 1989 A cooperative two-player arcade video game. The Buster brothers must finish a round-the-world quest to destroy bouncing balloons that are terrorizing several of Earth's landmarks and cities. There are 50 stages (with differing numbers and sizes of balloons) at 17 locations. Each player starts with a single harpoon. When a balloon is popped, special weapons may drop down. Players also start with 3-5 lives, but extra lives are given when certain point totals have been accumulated. ● Deadly Rooms of Death (or DROD) – 1996 A computer puzzle game. Beethro Budkin, dungeon exterminator, is asked to clean King Dugan’s castle from harmful beings and nasty things. And he will do it with only a "Really Big Sword". The game is entirely tile-based and takes place on a 38×32 rectangular grid. Most monsters and objects take up a single tile, though some monsters (such as serpents) take up multiple connected tiles. Each room is a separate puzzle, and to solve it the player must defeat all the monsters in the room and exit it. Monsters or objects will only move once per turn. Each type of monster has a different algorithm for its movement, depending on its location relative to the player. Some rooms simply require finding a sequence of moves that allows Beethro to defeat all monsters without being killed; other rooms require solving more complex puzzles, thanks to game elements such as orbs that open and close doors, trapdoors that fall after being stepped on, and so forth. Old Puzzle videogames — 3/4 ● Page 3 of 14 ● I.Q.: Intelligent Qube – 1997 A puzzle video game for the PlayStation. At the beginning of each level the player is put on a stage that has 23-30 rows and between 1 and 4 sets of rows comes at the user at one time. When all the blocks in one set are destroyed, more blocks are raised. If the player ever falls off the stage — either by standing on the final row of the stage as it is eliminated, or by being "avalanched" off by rising blocks — the game is over. ● Interphase – 1989 3D first-person and puzzle video game. The action mostly takes place in two modes : a 3D cyberpunk environment and a 2D schematic map where puzzles are encountered. 3D objects represent security doors and cameras. To disable the real-world devices, they must be destroyed. Puzzle- solving involves determining which objects to disable and in what order. The player must also deal with virtual defences, (enemy ships) and defeated them. While viewing the 2D map, the action in the 3D world continues. Enemy ships must be dispensed with before puzzle-solving can proceed — otherwise, the player becomes a sitting duck. ● Kickle Cubicle – 1990 A puzzle game developed for the arcades and ported to Nintendo Entertainment System. The player must travel through the four lands in the Fantasy Kingdom, which Kickle plays in a set order. Each land has a boss at the end. After completing all four lands, the "special game" begins, consisting of 30 harder levels. The player controls Kickle to solve a series of puzzles on frozen islands. The goal of each level is to collect the red Dream Bags when dealing with deadly enemies. ● Krusty's Fun House – 1992 A video game based on the animated sitcom The Simpsons. The player directs small rats to an extermination area through complicated maze-like levels. He controls Krusty the Clown, who must navigate through his Krusty Brand Fun House. Each level is a puzzle in which a number of rats Old Puzzle videogames — 3/4 ● Page 4 of 14 must be exterminated using different objects and passing by various obstacles. ● Kula World (or KulaQuest) – 1998 A 3D platform puzzle video game developed for the Sony PlayStation. Various elements and obstacles are introduced as one moves on to new levels, which means that the complexity and level of puzzle solving required gradually increases as the game progresses. The game involves making ingenious use of the various types of platforms and surrounding objects. The bonus stages also become more complex as the game progresses. Points are awarded when the player collects keys, treasures and fruits and also when they complete levels. A two-player mode is also available, with two variations of the game. ● Kwirk (or Puzzle Boy)– 1989 A puzzle video game developed for the Game Boy and ported to the PC Engine/TurboGrafx-16. Kwirk has three game modes, each one with its own set of rules. The object is to get from one end of the room to the staircase on the other by rotating turnstiles, moving blocks and filling holes with blocks. In Diagonal view, characters and blocks have shadows and appear in crude 3D, whereas in Bird's Eye view everything is 2D, viewed from the top down. The three skill levels and two viewpoints are featured in all modes. ● Lode Runner – 1984 A 2D, fixed-screen platform game video game. After the original game, a number of remakes, spin-offs and sequels were published in the Lode Runner series for different computers and consoles. The player controls a stick figure who must collect all the gold in a level while avoiding guards. Thereafter, he must reach the top of the screen to pass to the next level.